


Secret Siren

by Romansleftshoulderpad



Series: We Could Be Immortals AU [5]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, High School AU, Human AU, Magic, Original Non-Binary Character - Freeform, Remus is mentioned, title is from Frozen 2 and I'm not afraid to admit that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:35:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22161916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Romansleftshoulderpad/pseuds/Romansleftshoulderpad
Summary: Roman feels a little out of place being the only one who hasn't gotten his powers yet. Is there any way his friends can help? #BuildingBridgesPartTwo
Series: We Could Be Immortals AU [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1595107
Comments: 1
Kudos: 28





	Secret Siren

Roman wasn’t at Logan’s very much. Logan very rarely had guests over in the first place, but somehow that made days like these a little more special.  
It seemed like a perfect recipe for stress, but days just sitting in Logan’s room and watching the sky were the most relaxed he ever felt. It was a side of Logan only he and Virgil got to see. He was laying across his bed, bundled up in a NASA hoodie and tossing a pink rubble ball up into the air on loop. He seemed to not notice Roman sketching him as they listened to music on Logan’s old CD player.  
“I still don’t understand why you don’t just get a Bluetooth speaker,” Roman teased as if he hadn’t heard the answer a million times.  
“Your lack of comprehension disappoints me, Roman. Truly, I am saddened by this.”  
“Holy shit!” Roman gasped. “Logan Zander Hamilton has feelings?! Are pigs flying too?!”  
“Thanks for the heart attack, asshole,” Logan said, chucking the rubble ball at Roman who caught it without flinching. “You are, by far, the worst of my close friends.”  
“Aww, you said we’re close friends,” he teased. “Can’t believe I’m worse than Remy though.”  
“Remy is only a close friend when he isn’t being an asshole.”  
“But he’s always being an asshole.”  
“Exactly.”  
Roman smirked and tossed the rubber ball back to Logan. “So what’s the rundown?”  
“Rundown?”  
“The list. Come on, you can’t tell me you have a ranking of your close friends and not tell me the ranking.”  
“It starts with Virgil and the more you push this the lower you get,” Logan said.  
“Aww. Where’s Narcissa?”  
“Number four.”  
“Patton?”  
Logan rolled his eyes. “Having powers does not constitute friendship.”  
“That’s harsh,” Roman said. “Toss me the ball back, would ya?”  
Logan tossed lower than Roman’s hands and smirked as the force smacked straight into his stomach. “I just… I don’t trust him, I don’t know.”  
“You didn’t seem too wary of him at Emile’s party. Hell, you even sat next to him!”  
“Falsehood, I was simply looking out for his best interest regarding Seth. That doesn’t mean I trust him any more than the one-eyed little cretin.”  
“Nice Monsters Inc. reference.”  
“Thank you, I try.”  
“Aww, for me?”  
Logan cleared his throat. “Nonetheless, I think we just need to be more careful with our trust. We still don’t know what he’s capable of with his powers.”  
“We don’t know what Virgil is capable of either. Plus, Patton’s powers already put him in the emergency room quite preposterously.”  
“Never put that much alliteration into a statement ever again,” Logan said. “And of course we can trust Virgil, we’ve known him for years.”  
“My point,” Roman corrected, “isn’t that we shouldn’t trust Virgil. My point is that we should give Patton a chance.”  
“You’d almost think you have a crush.”  
“A squish! No- I- I mean, there’s nothing, but you know crushes aren’t my thing.” He sighed, running his fingers through his hair. “Not this easily at least.”  
“Because of your crush on Virgil?”  
“You bitch!” Roman yelled, laughing as he smacked Logan with a pillow. “I’m over it, I swear. And the bigger issue here is your crush on Virgil and don’t you dare try to deny this you two are one heartwarming conversation away from becoming the next Remy and Emile.”  
Logan turned bright red. “You honestly believe that Virgil would-” He hid his face in his hands. “You’re the worst.”  
“I’m saying if he could open his fucking eyes and get it through his thick skull that you’re gayer than the crowd of a My Chemical Romance concert than maybe he’d actually try to ask you out.”  
Logan slowly looked up from his hands. “He- What?”  
“If you’re honestly surprised he’s into you, then-”  
“No, no, that actually makes sense. He thinks I’m straight?!”  
Roman sighed. “We’ve been trying to tell him.”  
“Smart enough to make honors but not enough to realize I’m gay. Wow. This is very troubling, Roman. Am I- dare I ask- Am I not gay enough?”  
Roman laughed. “Could be gayer.”  
“I’m going to have to write ‘raging homosexual’ on my forehead, aren’t I?”  
“I’m afraid so. Don’t worry, I’ll write ‘enraged aroace’ on mine so we’re even.”  
Logan laughed and something seemed to radiate from him. When he opened his eyes they were a perfect reflection of the night sky. He was able to blink this away but it still managed to cause a sinking feeling in Roman’s gut.  
Magic.  
Of course…  
+  
It was impressive, to say the least, watching Virgil work. They were deep within the forest as Virgil ran amuck and Roman sat against a rock with his umbrella on one side of him and his sketchbook in his lap.  
“Okay, okay!” Virgil yelled excitedly. “Get your umbrella ready, I’m going to make it rain.” Electricity sparked from his hands and surrounded him.  
“I highly doubt that,” Roman teased, opening his umbrella. “Unless you mean cash-wise because I’m willing. I’m even willing to strip for you if you pay me. I’m a broke bitch, Virgil. Give me your money.”  
“Shut up,” Virgil laughed. “You’ll break my concentration.”  
He ran past Roman, jumping into the air and landing in a superhero pose that had clearly been rehearsed. With a loud crack of thunder, it did, indeed, begin to rain and Roman raced to sketch Virgil as quickly as he could before his subject moved.  
“Well,” he muttered to himself. “At least I’m faster at drawing now.”  
“You okay?” Virgil asked, sitting down next to him. The rain hadn’t been strong, and it was already starting to clear up, but it was just enough to wet his face and cause his shirt to cling to his muscles.  
“I’m fine it’s just… I don’t know. I’ve been thinking. Bad thinking.”  
“Phone a friend or call a national helpline?”  
“Phone a friend,” Roman said. Virgil visibly relaxed. “Specifically some magical superhuman friends.”  
“Still worried about your powers?”  
Roman sighed. “I just… you have that cool shit you just did! With the lightning and rain, and Logan is starting to develop his powers too. Even Patton, we may not entirely know what his powers are but he has them!”  
“Maybe it’s like puberty.”  
“This is not like puberty. I haven’t been able to do anything since the cave and just- I can’t stop thinking about if something happens. What if someone is in danger and we all need to help them? I’d be completely useless to you!”  
“Roman, you’re never useless to us. And nothing is going to happen.”  
“How can you be so sure, Virgil?” He looked down and whispered, “What if someone goes missing?”  
“That’s a very Logan thing of you to say,” Virgil teased, bumping into him. Roman leaned his head on his shoulder.  
“We don’t know what’s going to happen. There could be anything out there.” He sighed. “And I want to help if it does.”  
“You’ll get your powers, Roman, and I’ll be here to help you every step of the way.”  
“You’re a good friend, Virgil.”  
“Only because you’re a good friend in return.”  
And so, they sat there, leaning against each other as the rain fell softly around them. It was calm, watching the rebirth of nature, as the deepest of Roman’s anxieties buried themselves away, giving him a break- even just for the time being.  
+  
Roman had gotten used to being at Patton’s house pretty often. Dot and Larry had seemed to warm up to him (and since Patton started seeing Seth, Larry seemed more trusting of Roman). “Happy New Year, Mrs. Hart,” Roman greeted with a smile.  
“Oh, Roman, you can call me Dot.”  
“No, I don’t think I can, Mrs. Hart,” he said, still smiling.  
“Oh, very well, will you be staying for dinner tonight?” Dot asked.  
“Oh, well, I wouldn’t want to intrude on your family time and-”  
“Nonsense!” Larry laughed as he passed through. He leaned towards Roman and stage whispered, “You’re one of Patton’s better friends anyway.”  
“Larry!” Dot scolded as Roman blushed in embarrassment. “What my husband means is that you’re always welcome to stay as long as you’d like.”  
“Mom, are you embarrassing my friend?” Patton asked as he came down the stairs, he wore a baggy sweatshirt and gym shorts and his hair was messy as if he had just woken up.  
“Patton, you need to look presentable for company!”  
“He’s seen me look way worse,” Patton justified.  
“I’ve seen Logan look worse, which I think is way more important.”  
“Go get changed,” Dot said.  
“Fiiine,” Patton groaned, quickly running up the stairs. Roman couldn’t help but laugh at how their sweet and gentle Patton could so easily turn into the human version of a lemon.  
“I’m sorry about him, he’s just been so off lately.”  
“Every teenager is during the break, Mrs. Hart. You turn nocturnal. I’m sure he’s just making up for being awake past four A.M or something.”  
Dot sighed. “I suppose you’re right. And I suppose you should also tell your mother you’re staying here for dinner.”  
“Fine, fine,” he laughed. “You’ve twisted my arm. I’ll go call her.” He stepped aside from the kitchen and sent out a quick text. He knew his parents didn’t care, but he still felt bad about lying to Dot.  
He looked up as he heard a thump down the stairs. Patton was standing in front of him, hair-styled meticulously with a white and blue floral button-down tucked into a pair of lightly ripped jeans with cat socks on. Somehow, even his glasses looked perfect.  
“You clean up nicely,” he said.  
Patton rolled his eyes but held a tiny sliver of a smile. “Whatever, my mom just worries about ‘presentation’ all the time. You don’t have to play along.”  
“No, I mean it,” he said. “You, uh, look really nice.”  
Patton laughed. “Well, thanks. You don’t look too bad yourself.” Roman blushed as they headed up to Patton’s room. “I’ll warn you, it’s a bit messy. I’ve been trying to reorganize but, well, you know how it is.”  
“Can’t be worse than Remy’s,” Roman shuddered. “We never ask why it’s messy. Not after the incident with Dad’s car.”  
“Cool, so, uh, remind me to never go to Remy’s house ever again.” He opened the door and carefully toed boxes away, clearing a path to his bed. “New decade, new me.”  
“So what are your resolutions?” Roman asked, moving a pile of clothes out of his way.  
“I’ve never been one for resolutions, they’re so overwhelming and discouraging when you mess up,” Patton explained. “I just try to be me, you know. Every day is an opportunity to grow and be better. To move on from the past. I don’t need a calendar to tell me when to grow up.”  
“That’s a very admirable ideology, Patton,” Roman said. “My goal is to just be even gayer.”  
Patton laughed as he moved away unfolded clothes and miscellaneous stuffed animals. “That’s a good goal to chase.”  
“Indeed it is, but I think you called me here for more than just resolutions,” Roman said, waving Patton’s notebook in the air.  
Patton took the notebook and grabbed a pen. “I’m sorry.”  
“Don’t be, this just means you owe me a movie date,” he teased. “No superhero movies, though. I think we need a break from superhero stuff.”  
“A movie date,” Patton laughed, flipping through his notebook. “I don’t think Seth would like it very much if we called it that.”  
“Then we can go on our movie date and Seth can continue being the human version of Avengers: Endgame.”  
“Endgame was good,” Patton said weakly. He looked away from Roman’s stare. “Okay, fine, it wasn’t. But that’s not the point. The point is that we’re trying to figure out who this mysterious victim is.”  
Roman’s stomach dropped like an apple from a tree. “So, we’re sure this is going to happen?”  
“We’re being prepared in case it does,” he said, scribbling names quickly. “I still can’t differentiate past from future in these dreams but… I think this might be both.”  
“Both?”  
“He’s taken Remus before. Or done something to him. The name Moira comes up a lot, I think that might be the name of the woman from the club.”  
Roman grabbed his sketchbook and held his hand out. Patton tossed the pen at him. As he quickly scribbled, he thought aloud, “Was Moira a random woman in a club? Or was she Morality?”  
“Morality is a girl?” Patton asked. “That would explain some of the dreams, but when we met he- she? They?”  
“I don’t think he’s a girl now,” Roman said. “She’s definitely not cis.”  
“Too bad we can’t just ask.”  
“Morality doesn’t talk to you?” Roman asked. “Sometimes I wish Remus would shut up.”  
“Maybe that’s your power,” Patton teased. He made a grabby hand towards Roman for the pen. “Thank yooouuu.”  
“That’s a lame power,” Roman said. “Plus I’m pretty sure Logan does that weird meditative thing with Knowledge.”  
“Too bad there’s not a way we can all talk to the spirits and figure this out. Wait-” He scribbled something quickly just off from the chart he had been working on. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”  
“So who’s getting kidnapped?”  
“I’ve seen Logan in the hallways of where I believe our victim is getting kidnapped. It’s not him.”  
“Okay, good to know.”  
“You’re always with me whenever I see the missing poster. And everyone else I’ve only seen at the party, which had nothing to do with that man.”  
“So it’s not Logan and not me,” Roman said. “There’s a lot of people that aren’t me or Logan.”  
“I haven’t seen Virgil in any dreams,” Patton said. “Do you think it’s him?”  
“No, no, it can’t be. He’s super powerful when he’s just dicking around in his backyard. In danger? I don’t believe he’s our victim.”  
“Okay,” Patton sighed. “Okay. We still don’t have much to work with.”  
“We have time, right?”  
“I hope so.”  
“Time for what?” Dot asked in the doorway.  
“Studying!” Patton lied. “Yeah, uh, we’re studying for, um-”  
“Patton has Mrs. Green for chemistry,” Roman said. “And her class is the absolute worst. Luckily for him, I had her back in my sophomore year so I’m helping him study.”  
“Aw well isn’t that nice,” Dot cooed. “Dinner is almost ready so you boys might want to start heading down.”  
“Sounds great, Mom. But you should head down now, I smell burning.”  
Something shone in Dot’s eyes. “Oh dear, I smell it too! Hurry down boys!”  
“You’re a shit liar,” Roman said. “I hope you know that. I’ve literally never seen anyone as bad at lying as you are. You’re so bad.”  
“Okay, okay, whatever. I don’t feel comfortable lying.”  
Roman reached out to cup Patton’s cheek. He stiffened up but made no move to get away. Roman brushed his thumb across the skin under Patton’s eye. “Interesting…”  
“What are you doing?”  
“Your face turns pink when your powers work, well, part of it does. It’s like the night you first, you know.”  
“I still don’t know how to get rid of it! Dinner will be ready any second now, what do I do?!”  
“Relax,” Roman said, pulling something out of his bag. “This was too light for me, but I think it can work for you.” He opened a small thing of concealer and put some on his finger. “Hold still.” He leaned forward, gently applying the concealer and fully aware of Patton’s breath against his face. He silently prayed that neither of the Hart parents walked in.  
He leaned back, ignoring the blush on Patton’s face. “That should work. Keep this in your blog in case something ever happens at school.”  
“You think something like this will happen at school?”  
“No, but it’s still better to be precautious. Now let’s go get some food, I’m starving.”  
+  
Roman had begun to spend a lot of his free time in the art room. He’d eat his lunch in a hurry, if he even ate at all, and quickly head over with his sketchbook in hand. It was nice to have a quiet space with just his earbuds and his art supplies.  
Mostly quiet.  
The earbuds hadn’t granted him silence for very long.  
“She’s pretty,” EJ commented. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude. You’re very talented though, who is she?”  
“I’m not entirely sure,” Roman answered.  
“So, like a mystery woman?”  
“More like a design I’m working on.” He flipped to a new page. “Is there anything I can help you with?”  
“I guess not. I’ve never seen you around here before. Typically no one I know comes in here.”  
“I’ve been a bit more motivated these past few weeks.”  
“With mystery women?”  
“You could say that,” he said. “I like your bracelet.”  
“Oh, um, thank you,” EJ said, fiddling with the orange beads that spelled out “THEY-THEM”. “Not too many people notice it.”  
“Are you fluid?”  
“No, but I am non-binary,” they said. “I’m a demigirl but I’m also genderflux, which just means that how strongly I feel my gender changes. Sometimes I feel very strongly like a girl, other times I hardly feel like one at all.”  
“So the pronoun bracelets.”  
“When I don’t feel like a girl, she/her just feels wrong. They/them is fine whenever though, so if you’re not sure you can just use that.”  
“Good to know,” Roman said. “I’m he/him all the time. I’m sure you already know Narcissa uses she/her, but the rest of us use he/him. Logan also finds they/them acceptable if that’s worth noting.”  
“Good to know,” they teased. “Your group really knows how to throw a party.”  
“Yeah, we all saw you and Narcissa on New Years,” Roman said. EJ blushed pink.  
The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Roman quickly packed up his art supplies and put them in his bag before swinging it over his shoulder. “Where are you headed?” he asked.  
“Art is my next class,” they explained. “I find it easier to wait here.”  
“Fair enough,” Roman laughed. “I’ll see you around, then?”  
“You certainly will,” they said with a smile as Roman left. Their eyes never left him until he was completely out of view. “And I’ll be seeing you.”  
+  
Roman was alone in his room, sketching every fine line and detail that came into his mind. He was never able to figure out his powers with the others. Could he figure them out on his own? He looked at himself in the mirror, his irises were red and his hair was turning grey. Green smoke twirled around his pen. “Are you just here to tease me?” The smoke didn’t answer. “You’re not very charming, you know. You can at least help me with this Patton mystery. I think he’s onto something here.”  
Roman looked down at the drawing and saw Patton on one side of the page and Virgil on the lother. He glared at the smoke. “You’re a real asshole, you know that?”  
He pulled out his phone and flipped to a new page. He had taken a good amount of photos from New Year’s Eve, and he wanted some drawings that weren’t strange magical lines. He pulled up a group shot from the party they had talked Seth into taking for them. He zoomed in on EJ’s face, the lighting gave them an almost orange halo. Roman picked up his pencil and started sketching. There was something familiar about their eyes. He brushed off the thought, deciding he needed to work on developing a more unique style.  
He scribbled the rest of his friends onto the page, paying special attention to the highlights on Virgil’s skin and the curl of Logan’s hair along with the crookedness of Patton’s smile. By the time he was finished with the drawing, the smoke was gone and he looked like himself once again.  
“Your tricks are getting rather tired, Remus,” he scoffed quietly. “You’ll need to find a new way to get my hopes up.”  
He checked the time and realized it was getting late. He quickly put away his art supplies and headed to the bathroom, turning on the shower as he did a few more chores.  
He turned on his speaker and let his Disney playlist play, putting away his phone as he quickly stripped down. He stepped into the hot water, imaging his stressors melting away down the drain. He closed his eyes and massaged shampoo onto his scalp, singing along to a song from the original Mary Poppins and completely oblivious to the soaps and hygiene products levitating around him.


End file.
